T43 occasionaly won't power on.

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Cowman · #1 Post by **Cowman** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:49 am

So this is weird... occasionaly my brand new T43 won't power up. If I remove and re-insert the battery it powers on normally.

Is this a known problem? Is something wrong with the unit?

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:52 am

Are you positive it was off? E.g., not in standby?

Regards,

James

Cowman · #3 Post by **Cowman** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 11:01 am

well the lights were all off. Most recently it happened after I'd hibernated the system.

Tried opening/closing the lid and hitting the power button several times. That should have woken it up right?

egibbs · #4 Post by **egibbs** » Fri Apr 22, 2005 12:06 pm

After hibernating you usually need to hold the power button down for a second or two to wake it.

If you hold it for 7 seconds that should force it off regardless if it is in standby, hibernate, or stuck.

Ed Gibbs

Manos · #5 Post by **Manos** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:33 pm

I've experienced this intermittent problem and described it in another thread. No one knew a solution. I called IBM, and they walked me through some diagnostic procedures, with no results. I brought my T43 to a warranty service repair facility in town, and gave it to them in the failed state, but so far they've been unable to reproduce the problem. I'm frustrated.

munna · #6 Post by **munna** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 1:06 pm

My laptop experienced the same issue that you describe. Try this to reproduce the problem:

- Plug the laptop into the AC adapter and ensure battery is inserted (Green battery light should be lit)
- Keep laptop powered off overnight (it can be off for as little as an hour or so, but leaving it overnight would guarentee that i saw this problem)
- Remove the AC adapter from the laptop. (DO NOT turn on the laptop before doing this step - otherwise you have to start all over again)
- Attempt to power on laptop

At this point, you may notice that your laptop will not turn on. This is when you need to pull out the battery, re-insert it, and then try to power it on.

IBM replaced the motherboard on my laptop and I haven't seen the problem since.

Manos · #7 Post by **Manos** » Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:53 pm

Yes, munna, that's exactly how I reproduce the problem. I dropped in on my technician Friday morning, and I walked him through this procedure. It failed, as expected. He must have misunderstood my written instructions, because he seemed to be reaching for the power button before I remined him to unplug the AC cord first. I hope this gave him something to work with. I'm also glad to hear that your motherboard replacement solved the problem.

christopher_wolf · #8 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 1:04 am

This isn't always related to the hardware; rather, it seems to be caused by either hardware or software. Mine did that for awhile, until I un-installed certain programs and updated both the BIOS and the EC and it seems to run just fine.

Manos · #9 Post by **Manos** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:45 am

In my case, the problem existed since the first time I powered up the laptop. Updating the BIOS did not help. Christopher, did you uninstall pre-loaded programs, or just ones you had added?

munna · #10 Post by **munna** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 2:31 pm

For me, i'm postive it was hardware related and not software. Before I sent in my laptop for repair, I restored the system back to factory fresh state. (including all latest BIOS/OS updates and none of my own software installed) The issue still occurred for me.

When I got the laptop back, the OS wasn't touched by them, and the problem just stopped happening.

christopher_wolf · #11 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 2:42 pm

Manos wrote:In my case, the problem existed since the first time I powered up the laptop. Updating the BIOS did not help. Christopher, did you uninstall pre-loaded programs, or just ones you had added?

No pre-loaded software needed to be uninstalled for it. Although I did tweak some software I had installed that was most likely making Windows go nuts on a resume from suspend-to-RAM. One of the things that can do it is mounting an ext3/ext2 formatted HDD in the 2nd HDD via the ext2fs driver that helps Windows understand such HDDs. Another time, it was simply not updating the EC to the latest version when the BIOS had already gone through that. Yet another time, it was the, now older, Intel drivers that probably slowed it down. Note that it isn't quite a "dead awakening" as the system usually comes around...but it takes much longer than it normally would have.

Manos · #12 Post by **Manos** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 3:35 pm

I have an update on my power problem. I visited the technician last Thursday and showed him how to reproduce the problem. Since then, he swapped out the battery (I have the nine-cell heavy-duty battery) and attempted to reproduce the problem, with no success. He feels the battery was not properly receiving the wake-up signal (my words) from the power controller when the adapter was removed. Today he ordered a new battery from Lenovo, and will test when it arrives.

christopher_wolf · #13 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Jun 22, 2006 4:15 pm

Manos wrote:I have an update on my power problem. I visited the technician last Thursday and showed him how to reproduce the problem. Since then, he swapped out the battery (I have the nine-cell heavy-duty battery) and attempted to reproduce the problem, with no success. He feels the battery was not properly receiving the wake-up signal (my words) from the power controller when the adapter was removed. Today he ordered a new battery from Lenovo, and will test when it arrives.

[censored]! Why didn't I think of that? I have several batteries I can try that out with; 2 9-Cells and the original 6-cell that came with my T43. I will let you know how it goes.

Manos · #14 Post by **Manos** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 6:33 am

I got my T43 back yesterday from the local repair facility. The technician said he thoroughly tested the unit with the new battery and could not reproduce the problem.

Once home, I was able to fail the unit in five minutes. Apparently the battery is not the problem. I no longer trust this repair facility, so I'm planning to send the unit directly to IBM next time, the motherboard being my biggest suspect.

Manos · #15 Post by **Manos** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 5:00 pm

I sent my T43 to IBM's (actually Solectron's) Memphis, Tennessee repair facility via DHL on Wednesday, July 12, using the pre-paid box they had mailed to me. I was surprised to receive it back on Friday, July 14. I assumed something had gone wrong in shipping. On the contrary, it was shipped, tested, repaired, retested, and shipped back in two days! If you read my earlier notes above, I went first to a local authorized IBM repair facility that took three weeks, couldn't understand the problem description I wrote for them, and did not fix the computer. I chose the local option to save time and shipping damage. On the second point, I was almost right. The box came back from Solectron with one of the three foam pieces missing, giving the computer some room to shift within the box. Fortunately that solid ThinkPad construction kept the unit undamaged.

I do have one problem---they forgot to return the AC adapter, so I can't verify the repair (they replaced the "Planar Card," a.k.a. the motherboard). I called, and they're sending one to me by Monday. The guy argued with me that I should not have sent the adapter, because they had adapters they could use at the facility. I explained that the original representative told me on the phone that I could send it, and that the power problem could have been in the adapter. This explanation didn't register with him, and I was tired of re-explaining it, so I let it go.

I'll give you another update after I test the unit with the adapter.

Manos · #16 Post by **Manos** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:45 pm

Not only did IBM turn the unit around in amazing time, they seem to have fixed it. I did extensive testing with the new power adapter that arrived today, and could not reproduce the AC-to-battery switching problem. Apparently the power controller on the planar card (motherboard) was the cause of the problem. I am impressed with the high level of service demonstrated by IBM, excepting their failure to return my power adapter, which was corrected quickly. I'm back in business.

Manos · #17 Post by **Manos** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 12:30 pm

Failure always occurs after you mail in the survey card.

My T43 has a new power problem. This one is almost the opposite of the old problem. If I shut down the unit while the power adapter is plugged in, the power button will not turn on the unit. I have to remove and re-insert the power adapter cord to be able to use the power button, the very action that disabled the power button before the motherboard was replaced. I have no problem while on battery. This problem is not interrmittent---it happens every time. I guess it's back to IBM for another repair.

Manos · #18 Post by **Manos** » Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:48 am

I sent my T43 to the depot again to fix my new power problem described above. The turnaround time was the same, two days. This time the foam was in place upon return, and the unit received no damage in transit. I see a few small scuffs on the underside near the front edge, but they are minor. I've made a few tests, and it appears the problem is fixed. Of course, the best way to surface a repair problem is to post a note that says your problem is fixed, so here I am. The fix this time was the same as last time---the Planar Card was replaced. That's two power controllers in a row that didn't function properly. I hope this third time's a charm. I still recommend the depot service over the local warranty repair facilities. Odd as it sounds, they're much faster. And, of course, they fix the unit.

T43 occasionaly won't power on.

T43 occasionaly won't power on.

Power-on problem

Exactly

Thanks for the guidance

Re: Thanks for the guidance

Update

Re: Update

Repair update

Repair update #2

Fixed!

I spoke too soon

Repair update #?

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